bravis's profile

I live in the UK and I’m currently trying to find time to write a first novel.  Unfortunately for my novel writing aspirations though I’m a high school teacher and thus a bit short of time!  I use Urbis to teach me more about writing, both by submitting the occasional item for review, and also through reading and reviewing the work of others.

Preferred genres – sci-fi and fantasy, although I have a fairly low tolerance for generic ‘Lord of the Rings’ style fantasy.  I’ve read a lot of it, some good and some bad, and find myself craving originality whenever I see a fantasy name with an apostrophe in it.  Hence my attempts to reimagine the genre a little in my own writing which hopefully combines the fantasy requirements (magic, good a…

I live in the UK and I’m currently trying to find time to write a first novel.  Unfortunately for my novel writing aspirations though I’m a high school teacher and thus a bit short of time!  I use Urbis to teach me more about writing, both by submitting the occasional item for review, and also through reading and reviewing the work of others.

Preferred genres – sci-fi and fantasy, although I have a fairly low tolerance for generic ‘Lord of the Rings’ style fantasy.  I’ve read a lot of it, some good and some bad, and find myself craving originality whenever I see a fantasy name with an apostrophe in it.  Hence my attempts to reimagine the genre a little in my own writing which hopefully combines the fantasy requirements (magic, good and evil, a quest) with a little science and history to give a more original story with a hint of realism.  Sci-fi is my current favourite though and so I’m working on something new.  I’m resisting the temptation to submit it to Urbis though until I’m finished and happy with it.

Things I’ve learned since joining Urbis:
1.  Show the story, don’t tell.  Infodumps are a no no.
2.  Write from a character’s point of view, don’t resort to an unseen narrator.
3.  Speak your dialogue as you write it to check it sounds realistic.
4.  Research what you want to write thoroughly first.
5.  Take advice given in reviews, don’t get all defensive since many of the suggestions [but not all] are good ones.
6.  Read widely, fiction or non-fiction, in order to learn about how to write.
7.  You need an agent in order to get a publisher these days, but you’re unlikely to find either through submitting items to Urbis alone.